Healing The Sparrow
by Tracy Diane Miller
Summary: This very short story is a companion piece to "Tempting Fate" and "Life is But a Walking Shadow."


Healing The Sparrow  
  
Summary: This very short story is a companion piece to "Tempting Fate" and "Life is But a Walking Shadow."  
  
Disclaimer: Early Edition characters belong to their creators. No copy infringement intended. No profit is being made.  
  
Author: Tracy Diane Miller E-mail address: tdmiller82@hotmail.com  
  
Healing The Sparrow  
  
It wasn't so much what he said, his words, but the tone of his voice that had alarmed her. A mother knows these things. A mother knows when her child is in pain, when he is hurting.  
  
After Lois played the answering machine message Gary had left, she immediately called to check up on him. When her motherly concern was repeatedly greeted by the numerous messages she left on his answering machine, her fears magnified. Finally, she was able to reach Marissa. It took some prying but Marissa finally revealed that Gary had been in an accident. She reassured Lois that Gary would be okay, but that the doctors insisted on keeping him in the hospital over night for observation. As soon as Lois hung up the phone, she updated Bernie on the situation and had him pack up the Gray Ghost. The Hobsons drove to Chicago that night. Their son needed them.  
  
* * * * * *  
  
The next day, a thick and unexpected fog blanketed Chicago. The weather people seemed baffled by the fog that appeared to have taken the sun hostage. . Gary stood by the window, staring outside. The bewitching fog seemed to have insinuated itself into his thoughts. He always hated days like this because the fog gave the day a surreal quality. It was as if the mist trapped people in its spell making them painfully aware of how inconsequential they were in the universe's framework.  
  
And last night as he slept, he fought the demons. A few times, he awoke, drenched in sweat as his mind tortured him with repeated images of Jeremiah's fall from that roof top. Then he was back in that sub-basement as the mountains of debris covered him. He remembered taking his last breath. Afterwards, he was at a funeral, his own. He saw his parents, Marissa, and Chuck crying over his casket. He kept calling to them, pleading with them to hear him, to let them know that he was alive. But no one heard him.  
  
That's when he woke up.  
  
The doctor confirmed that he sustained bruised ribs, but no broken bones. He also suffered a mild concussion. His leg injury was expected to heal quickly.  
  
Marissa told him that his mom called last night. Marissa hadn't divulged too much information as to how he had been injured and had told Lois that he was okay and that the doctor said that he could come home today, but Lois still insisted that she and Bernie were coming to Chicago to take care of him. Gary belatedly remembered the answering machine message he had left and sensed that Mom had read more into his call then a declaration of love. Maybe if he allowed Mom to pamper him (like he would be able to stop her) and she saw that he was okay, he wouldn't have to tell her anything else. He really didn't want her to know about Jeremiah. He really didn't want her to know what he had done.  
  
"Son." The familiar male voice said. He turned around to find his parents standing in the door way. The Hobsons rushed over to him, enveloping him in a cocoon of love. "We were so worried. Marissa didn't tell us what happened, just that you were in the hospital." Lois said, her voice laced with concern.  
  
"I just had an accident. I'm fine, Mom." He said simply.  
  
"Bernie, why don't you go to the front desk and see to Gary's paper work." Lois requested.  
  
Bernie flashed his wife a knowing look. He was aware that her request was just an excuse to get him to leave the room so she could talk to Gary alone.  
  
After Bernie left the room, Lois helped Gary over to the bed. Sitting down next to him and gazing into his mud green eyes, she didn't see a grown man or a hero. She saw her little boy.  
  
"When I came home from visiting Betty and I played your message, I was really worried about you." She began cautiously.  
  
"There was no reason to worry, Mom. I was just thinking about you and Dad and I just wanted to call you guys."  
  
"To say you loved us and that you missed us."  
  
"Yes." He whispered.  
  
She smoothed a stray hair from his face. "Ever since you were a little boy, I could always tell when something was bothering you even when you wouldn't confide in me."  
  
A brief silence.  
  
"Do you remember Michael Henry?" She asked.  
  
Gary managed a weak smile. "Yeah, the sparrow I found on our door step when I was seven. I named him after my two best friends."  
  
Lois returned his smile. "Yes. That poor little bird with the broken wing. You were so worried about nursing him back to health. You didn't even want to let him out of your sight for a moment so you insisted on taking him to school with you so you could take care of him."  
  
"Except I killed him." Gary said bitterly. Gary rose from the bed and proceeded to the window, his back towards Lois.  
  
" No, Gary. No, you didn't kill him. It wasn't your fault that he died. You did what you could. It was just his time."  
  
Gary turned back around to face his mother. "But if I hadn't interfered, maybe..."  
  
Lois rose from the bed and proceeded to where Gary was standing at the window. "We have no control over God's plan. You can't change what is meant to be." She said.  
  
"Really? Then why is it that I get the paper? Why is it that I know what's going to happen before it happens if I'm not meant to change it? And why is it that I still failed?"  
  
Lois gently took him by the arm and led him back to the bed. They sat down. The initial silence was deafening. Finally, Lois spoke.  
  
"What happened yesterday?" She asked softly. Ever since he left that message, she knew that there was more behind his phone call. Lois was determined to find out what was bothering him and to help him deal with it.  
  
A longer silence.  
  
Gary studied her face for a moment. Was he ready to tell her about Jeremiah? Could he really do this?"  
  
"I got hurt in an accident." He repeated his earlier explanation.  
  
"What kind of accident?" She probed.  
  
"It was...it was just....I had to save these teens who were in this abandoned carpet store that was about to collapse. They got out, but I was trapped inside."  
  
"Oh my God! But why didn't the paper warn you that you would be trapped in the collapse?"  
  
Another brief silence.  
  
Gary could see that his mom was already visibly shaken by his revelation. He didn't want to upset her more by telling her about his obituary.  
  
Tell her. Tell her everything. She needs to hear it. You both need to hear it. It's time to let go. Gary's inner voice advised.  
  
Still silent.  
  
"Gary?"  
  
Gary hesitated before speaking. "The paper did warn me, not about the teens being trapped, but that I would end up at that carpet store. That I would...that I would die."  
  
"Gary." She reached for his hand.  
  
He began slowly. "Yesterday...yesterday, there was a story in the paper about an apartment fire caused by a boiler room explosion. I thought that it would be simple because all I had to do was to turn off the boiler. Only thing was, when I got to the boiler room, I discovered that it was padlocked. I pulled the fire alarm and got the residents out of the building. Mom, I thought that everyone was safe. But there was this homeless man still in the building; he had taken shelter in a storage shed on the roof. His name was Jeremiah. When I got up to the roof and found him, I realized that we couldn't get back down stairs because there was already too much smoke in the stairwell. I tried to get him to crawl across a ladder that I had placed on a nearby building. I had gone over first. Jeremiah started to crawl across the ladder. I could see that he was shaky. But he was almost there when he started to fall. I tried to hold on to him, Mom, I did, but I couldn't. I watched him fall. I watched him die." Gary revealed, a small tear trickling down his cheek.  
  
Lois wiped away his tear. "Gary, it wasn't your fault."  
  
"No? I've been playing it over and over in my mind wondering what I could have done differently. Maybe, if I had done something, anything else, Jeremiah would still be alive." Gary paused briefly before continuing. "And when I saw my obituary in the paper, I guess I thought...."  
  
"That you were being punished? Gary, that's why you called, wasn't it? You called because you wanted to say goodbye."  
  
"Yes." He whispered.  
  
Instinctively, Lois hugged him tightly. She could feel his body shaking in her arms over the force of his confession. "You listen to me, Gary. Just like with Michael Henry, that man dying wasn't your fault. And your obituary appearing in the paper wasn't meant as a punishment. The reason the paper comes to you is because you are such a special person. You give people hope; you give them a future."  
  
Gary listened attentively.  
  
"And I'll help you through this. I'm your mother. Let me take care of you. Please."  
  
It would take some time and he would never forget, but with the love of his family and friends, he would be okay. He would heal.  
  
It was finally time to heal the sparrow.  
  
The End. 


End file.
